Marie Hourihan (born 10 March 1989) is a retired Irish footballer and current head coach. She previously played for clubs including Chelsea,

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

and

Manchester City W.F.C. Manchester City Women's Football Club (formerly ''Manchester City Ladies F.C.'') is an English Women's association football, women's football club based in Manchester who play in the Women's Super League. It is affiliated with Manchester City F ...

She represented the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

at senior international level, having represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

up to under-23 level.

Club career

Birmingham City, 2011–2013

Hourihan's debut for

was a 4–0 shutout win against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

on 14 April 2011. She made 11 appearances for the club during the

2011 FA WSL The 2011 FA WSL was the inaugural season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 13 April 2011 and ended on 28 August 2011. The league also took a break between 12 May and mid-July to allow preparatio ...

season helping the team finish in second place with a record. During the

2012 FA WSL The 2012 FA WSL was the second season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 8 April 2012 and was scheduled to end in October 2012. The league had a break between 8 July and 19 August to allow prepa ...

season, she made seven appearances to help the team finish in second place with a record.

Chelsea, 2013–2015

In July 2013, Hourihan signed with Chelsea L.F.C. for the 2013 FA WSL season.

Manchester City, 2016–2018

In December 2015, Hourihan signed with

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

for the

2016 FA WSL The 2016 FA WSL 1 was the sixth edition of the FA WSL since it was formed in 2010. The WSL 1 was expanded to nine teams. The season started on 23 March and Chelsea were the defending WSL 1 champions. Manchester City Manchester Cit ...

season.

Brighton, 2018–2019

Hourihan joined Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. in January 2018, on a loan deal until the end of the season. The move was made permanent in the summer of 2018.

Braga, 2019–2021

In July 2019 Hourihan signed for Portuguese

Campeonato Nacional de Futebol Feminino The Campeonato Nacional Feminino (English: Women's National Championship), also known as Liga BPI for sponsorship reasons, is the top-tier women's association football league in Portugal and part of the various Women's football in Portugal, wome ...

champions

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

International career

After previously representing the

England women's national under-23 football team The England women's national under-23 football team, also known as England women Under-23s or England women U23(s), is an association football team operated under the auspices of The Football Association. Since 2021, it has replaced the now defu ...

, Hourihan accepted a call-up from the new

Republic of Ireland women's national football team The Republic of Ireland women's national football team () represents the Republic of Ireland in competitions such as the FIFA Women's World Cup and the UEFA Women's Championship. The team played in their first World Cup at the 2023 FIFA Women' ...

coach

Colin Bell Colin Bell may refer to: * Colin Bell (academic) (1942–2003), English academic * Colin Bell (footballer, born 1946) (1946–2021), English international footballer * Colin Bell (footballer, born 1961), English football coach * Colin Bell (journal ...

in 2017. She was eligible to represent the Girls in Green thanks to her late grandmother who moved back from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to her native

Arigna Arigna (, formerly ''Carn an Ailt'') is a village in the far north of County Roscommon in the west of Ireland. It is near Lough Allen (on the River Shannon), on a designated scenic route between Keadue and Sliabh an Iarainn. Arigna is situated ...

County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...

. She made her senior debut in March 2017, in a 0–0 draw with

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

at the 2017 Cyprus Cup. Hourihan was installed as the successor to Ireland's longstanding goalkeeper

Emma Byrne Emma Anne Byrne (born 14 June 1979) is an Irish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. She played for the Republic of Ireland on a record 134 occasions and served as captain of the team. She spent almost 17 years with Arsenal before joini ...

Managerial career

On 24 July 2023, Hourihan was appointed head coach of Stoke City Women, the team's first full-time manager. In the 24-25 season Marie led Stoke City Women to their highest ever league finish in the FA Women's National League and her side earn't their place in the FAWNL Cup final against Nottingham Forest Women and lost 3-1. She left Stoke in May 2025 and joined Plymouth Argyle Women as Head Coach in June 2025.

Personal life

Hourihan is a

second cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...

of the footballer

Conor Hourihane Conor Geraroid Hourihane () (born 2 February 1991) is an Irish Football coach (association football), football coach and former Football player, player who played as a central midfielder, midfielder. He is currently the head coach of club Barns ...

Honours

;Birmingham City *

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

: 2011–12 ;Chelsea * FA WSL 1 Winner:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: 2014–15 * FA WSL 1 Runner-up:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

;Manchester City *FA WSL 1 Winner 2016 * FA WSL Cup: 2016 *

: 2016–17

References

External links

*
Brighton & Hove Albion player profile

SC Braga player profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hourihan, Marie Living people English women's footballers Women's association football goalkeepers 1987 births Women's Super League players England women's under-23 international footballers Manchester City W.F.C. players Leicester City W.F.C. players Watford F.C. Women players Fulham F.C. Women players Republic of Ireland women's international footballers Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. players Spartans W.F.C. players Scottish Women's Premier League players S.C. Braga (women) players Expatriate women's footballers in Portugal Republic of Ireland expatriate women's association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Campeonato Nacional Feminino players 21st-century English sportswomen 21st-century Irish sportswomen